Poblano Bolognese with Spaghetti Squash

I posted a photo of this recipe on Instagram last week and the people were lovin it. I must say, as far as my extremely amateur i-Phone food photography goes, it was one of my better shots. When I posted the photo, it was a sincere reaction to the yumminess of this dish. I had a spaghetti squash and a ground beef hanging out in the kitchen so naturally, it occurred to me to make a sauce of some sort. I had tried a few different bolognese recipes at that point, but I’d yet to find one that really stuck with me. I had this recipe pinned from a while back so I thought it might be a fine time to give it a go.

The original recipe wasn’t completely paleo-friendly but it was easy enough to modify. I was extremely pleased with the flavors. The poblano does something absolutely wonderful. I will definitely have to play around with those guys more in future dishes. Hope you guys enjoy this one as much as I do.

Place carrots, onions, and celery in a food processor and pulse until vegetable are shredded into small pieces (or to your liking). Transfer processed veggies to a bowl and set aside.

Heat cooking fat in a large skillet. Once fat is hot, add beef and brown until fat is rendered (you shouldn't be able to see any pink!). Transfer meat to a bowl and dispose of any remaining fat.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of cooking fat in the skillet and cook veggies until they've softened, about 15 minutes.

Add white wine vinegar and beef stock to the pan and let it continue to cook until liquid is reduced by half (about 10 minutes).

Add the cooked beef back into the pan along with tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, nutmeg, salt and pepper.*

Reduce hear to a simmer and let cook, covered but with the lid slightly ajar, for about 1 hour until the sauce thickens.

While the sauce is cooking, prepare your pasta of choice. If using spaghetti squash, preheat the over to 400 degrees F, cut it in half lengthwise, rub insides with fat of choice (I used coconut oil) and bake facedown on a baking sheet for 20-30 minutes (depending on size). Let it cool until it's no longer to hot to handle and then use a fork to scrape up squash strings.

When sauce is nearly done, heat butter in a separate pan. Add garlic and saute for 30-40 seconds. Add poblano pepper and saute until slightly blistered, about 2 minutes.

Add cooked garlic and peppers to the sauce along with the coconut cream.

Thoroughly mix in cream and allow sauce to cook over low heat for another 3-5 minutes.

Depending on your preferences, you can either mix pasta in with the sauce or put the pasta on a plate and spoon sauce over it.** Either way it's deliciousness.

If you're a cheese person, shredded parm is a must!

Notes

*Be mindful of the amount of salt in the broth that you use when adding additional salt to the sauce. Don't want to overdue it!

**The original recipes from Tasting Table gives suggests using fettuccine if using actual pasta. See the link to this recipe for specific instructions on how to cook and serve pasta.